Justice Department Announces Settlement With Swarthmore College to Increase Access for People With Disabilities

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department yesterday announced a settlement agreement
under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Swarthmore
College, under which the college will make its campus and services more
accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Today’s out-of-court settlement resolves a compliance review during which the
Department found barriers to access in existing facilities and elements such as
doors, restrooms, seating, signage, and interior and exterior circulation
routes. The college, located in Swarthmore, Pa., has agreed to prepare a plan
to make alterations to its facilities within six years and relocate services and
programs to accessible facilities with prior notice. The agreement addresses a
wide variety of services and facilities, including administrative buildings,
housing, access between facilities, parking, directional signage, and emergency
preparedness.

Under the agreement, the college will:

Ensure that all buildings and facilities in which programs, services, and
amenities are offered to the public and the college community meet the
accessibility criteria in the agreement, unless participation requires advance
notice or registration;

Ensure that those services and programs that do require advanced notice or
registration are located in (or relocated to) an accessible location in the
event that a person with a disability registers;

Submit an accessibility plan for review to the Department by Dec. 1, 2008,
outlining how the college will comply with the agreement, after conducting
architectural surveys and seeking public comment;

Update its campus-wide emergency evacuation, sheltering, and shelter-in-place
plans for individuals with disabilities;

Ensure that 3 percent of the units (and adjacent toilet rooms) in its student
living facilities are accessible and dispersed among the facilities; and ensure
that, in addition, a reasonable number of housing facilities has an accessible
entrance, first floor common area, and toilet room that is usable by a visitor
with a disability;

Post signs at facility entrances and toilet rooms identifying those that are
accessible and, at inaccessible entrances and toilet rooms, directing
individuals to the nearest accessible entrance or toilet room;

Provide assistive listening systems and devices for people with hearing
impairments in lecture halls, meeting rooms, auditoria, and other assembly
areas.

“We are pleased that Swarthmore is taking steps to make its facilities and
programs more accessible to persons with disabilities and commend Swarthmore for
its spirit of cooperation in working with the Department,” said Rena J. Comisac,
Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.

Title III of the ADA requires that privately owned places of public
accommodation, including colleges and universities, ensure that no individual
with a disability is discriminated against in the full and equal enjoyment of
services and facilities, remove physical barriers to access to existing
facilities where it is readily achievable to do so, comply with accessibility
standards for new construction and alterations, and modify policies and
practices where necessary to ensure full and equal enjoyment of services and
facilities. The Department had earlier entered into agreements with the
University of Chicago and Colorado College under Title III of the ADA.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the ADA or the agreement can call
the Justice Department’s toll-free ADA Information Line at 800-514-0301 or
800-514-0383 (TTY), or access its ADA Web site at http://www.ada.gov.